When a family of genets (small African mammals) were found lying in a puddle in South Africa, children alerted adults about the abandoned babies.
The pastor they alerted then told the Daktari Bush School and Wildlife Orphanage, a nonprofit organization in South Africa that cares for orphaned and injured wildlife, and teaches children to take care for the animals and their environment. The cofounders of Daktari, Michelle and Ian Merrifield noticed that the babies were only two years old, and this meant that they desperately needed their mother for food and warmth.
But with their mom nowhere in sight, Ian told The Dodo, “We were heartbroken and scared.” So they bundled up the babies in a blanket, and laid them next to their three dogs, hoping their dogs would keep them warm.
One of the dogs- a poodle/cocker spaniel mix named Candy, seemed particularly interested in the genets.
The Merrifields started feeding the babies with syringes of warm milk, but they noticed they started to snuggle up Candy to keep warm, and tried to suck her nipples. Candy had had babies in the past, but she wasn’t pregnant, so the Merrifields were astonished when Candy, just days later, started producing milk.
“Candy is interested in most animals who come to Daktari,” Ian explains, “but we were shocked to see that she’d actually started producing milk. The only way we could explain it was that her motherly instincts had kicked in.”
According to veterinarian Dr. Honorata Lenk Markham from Oaklawn Animal Hospital in Rhode Island, “For one reason or another, maternal hormones get activated including oxytocin, the hormone that produces milk. n this case, the dog felt a strong connection to the babies, which then must have started a hormonal cascade in her body that resulted in her adopting the animals as her own. I often see dogs adopting stuffed animals. They protect them, nurture them and often produce milk for them.”
Candy started nursing the genets, who are named Chouchou, Maswika and Sakka. Candy and her genets became inseparable, and would not let anyone but the Merrifields near the babies.
Just recently, two of the genets- Maswika and Sakka were released back into the wild, and Chouchou, who showed too much stress during release, is still at Daktari. While Chouchou and Candy don’t really interact anymore, since Chouchou is nocturnal, Candy will sometimes go to check on her grown-up baby when she has the chance.
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[Featured Image Credit: Daktari]
Dog Miraculously Starts Producing Milk To Feed Abandoned Babies is an article from: LifeDaily